Whilst a great salary and lots of job satisfaction are two of the main reasons why staff are going to be keen to stay within a business, there is actually so much more that is important. One of these things is creating a healthy work environment.
A healthy work environment is not only going to make sure that your employees feel that they are valued, but it will also ensure that everyone is proactive, productive and takes a whole lot of pride in their work too.
Not sure on how best to create a healthy work environment? Here are the top tips on how to ensure that a healthy work environment is fostered.
Create a sense of trust
Trust is something that should never be underestimated, especially when it comes to your employees and how they feel about where they work. In fact, trust is one of the most important attributes that people look for within a workplace and it doesn’t have to be too tricky to create.
There are a few things that can build trust within a business. The first is that you always ensure that you meet the promises that you make. You should never over promise, only to under deliver on what you promised.
You also need to try and avoid making vague commitments; instead, you should make them as firm as possible. Avoid phrases such as “I’ll try” or “I will do my best”. If you can do it, say you can, if you can’t then be honest, this will be much more appreciated than a lie.
You should also make sure that you keep everyone updated of any key changes within the business and follow up with them to make sure that all is understood.
Always remember the value of communication
You should never, ever forget just how important communication is for any business. Without communication your employees are never going to know what is going on within the business and they may feel that they are missing out on key pieces of information that relates to their jobs too. This can lead to feelings of stress about the unknown and also gossip being spread around too.
Without communication, you can also find that your employees don’t feel that they have the right place to send through their thoughts and opinions on what is going on around the business. Set up an employee app or internal communication app, both of which are incredibly easy to use and will help them to feel that they are being valued and listened to.
Encourage staff members to feel empowered
When staff members feel empowered in what they do, then this is always going to create a healthy workplace culture. You not only want to give your employees the power to tackle things themselves and make some decisions; but you also are going to want to reward those who work things out for themselves.
Along with this, you need to remind employees that it is safe to fail within your business. Mistakes are how we learn and by empowering staff members to feel that it is okay to fail, then you are showing them that they can challenge themselves and try (and sometimes fail).
Try and be as flexible as you can be
It is incredibly hard to balance working with home life, in fact many businesses are seeing that the traditional 9-5 model of working is disappearing and being replaced by a much more flexible way of working.
By allowing flexible working within your workplace you are helping your staff members to achieve that all important work/life balance and improving your employee retention. They are going to feel much less stressed and they will also be able to focus better on their work, when they are at work.
Employees who have flexible working, be that working from home days or flexi-time are also much more loyal to their workplace, this is largely because they feel valued and that their employer understands that they are people away from being an employee.
Offer rewards where you can
As people we love the idea of being rewarded when we have done something well. This definitely is the case when it comes to work. As employers, it is down to you to make sure that every single employee feels that you reward hard work and that you recognise when a job has been well one.
The thing about employee rewards is that they don’t have to be anything massive. They can be something relatively simple and small. Sometimes an email just to say thank you for working so hard on a task is enough to make the person feel valued and that they are appreciated.
A healthy working environment is not that hard to achieve. You just need to think carefully about how you set an example for your staff members and what you do to make them feel as happy as possible about where they work. In no time at all, you are going to have happy staff members who feel pleased to work where they do.
